December 2018

Monday 26th November

So today was the day that Paulo and Pedro, our 2016 born steers, made their final journey. It was only their second journey – the first being from Dalmore to East Pitkerro, where they have grazed and wintered for two years. It’s always a bit of a wrench to see them go but they’ve had a good life and they’ll supply a good few locals with prime beef with minimum inputs. As usual, we loaded them on to our trailer to take them to the haulier’s wagon – they loaded quietly and calmly both times.

Monday 3rd December

Lovely day – frosty, sunny and still –perfect apart from the water being frozen.

Frosty morning.

Tuesday 4th December.

Hard frost again this morning changing to rain, grey and miserable.

We had a two and a half hour power cut so Dan spent the time tidying cupboards in the classroom, using the head torch. We’ve identified a pile of stuff that’s now surplus so he’s going to put it on eBay / Amazon / Gumtree.

Monday 10th December

Took Tom to the vet for his dental assessment; he only needed a scale and polish but he’s well in the huff with me. I am persona non grata. Every time he sees me, he dives for cover. Hey ho. Still, he's come a long way in his relationship with the dogs.

Tom and the dogs - and no hissing.

Almost finished the backlog of diary entries – the process is now well consolidated.

Monday 24th December

Hard frost with temperature -4C at dawn and didn’t go up much all day. Milked all three cows but planning to move to alternate days now, so won’t be milking tomorrow. Put hay in for the cows – a round bale is lasting five or six days.

In anticipation of Christmas, the ponies had a can of “Sweetheart Stout” on their feed. And carrots. Even though they aren’t reindeer.

Dan made bread and wholemeal sourdough crumpets. The bread was delicious; the crumpets were interesting.

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Who is the Accidental Smallholder?

Hello, I'm Rosemary Champion, aka the Accidental Smallholder. I'm a smallholder in the east of Scotland and started this website to help other people who are interested in smallholding to find their way, and to share my experiences.